How Many Calories in a Salad?
20 calories. That's a large 150 g bowl of green salad, with a side portion at 10 and the leaves themselves at 13 kcal per 100 g. So how many calories in a salad? Almost none — until the dressing arrives. That's where every real salad number is decided.
(alt: "Caesar salad in a bowl - a plain green salad is just 20 calories per large bowl")
On this page
- Salad quick facts
- Bowls and side portions
- When a salad stops being 13 calories
- How does salad compare?
- The salad cream trap
- Most popular ready-made salad brands
- FAQ
Salad quick facts
Figures are for undressed green salad — mixed leaves and salad vegetables, nothing poured on top.
| Nutrient | Large bowl (150 g) | Per 100 g | RI%* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 20 kcal / 84 kJ | 13 kcal / 54 kJ | 1% |
| Protein | 1.5 g | 1.0 g | 3% |
| Carbohydrates | 2.4 g | 1.6 g | 1% |
| – of which sugars | 2.4 g | 1.6 g | 3% |
| Fat | 0.6 g | 0.4 g | 1% |
| Fibre | –† | –† | – |
| Salt | 0.03 g | 0.02 g | under 1% |
*RI% = a large bowl's share of an adult's daily reference intake, based on 2,000 kcal.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from CoFID, the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified August 2026. How we verify our data →
†CoFID does not publish a fibre figure for this dish; leafy vegetables contribute some fibre but the exact value isn't determined.
Read that energy row again: a bowl big enough to fill a dinner plate costs 1% of a day's calories. Nothing else you'd call a meal comes close. The catch is that almost nobody eats it plain.
Bowls and side portions
- Large bowl (~150 g): 20 kcal. A genuinely big serving — main-course territory before toppings.
- Side salad (~80 g): 10 kcal, and it counts as one of your 5 A Day in a single go.
Those are the leaves' numbers, and they barely move whatever you do to the quantity. Double the bowl and you've added 20 kcal — less than a bite of bread. This is why volume eaters love salad: the plate fills up long before the calorie count does.
(alt: "BodyPal app scanning a salad showing calories and macros")
When a salad stops being 13 calories
(alt: "Green, Greek, Caesar and potato salad calories comparison")
Named salads are a different food group. Per 100 g:
- Tomato and onion salad: 45 kcal — still light, the oil is modest.
- Caesar salad (before dressing): 77 kcal — chicken, croutons and cheese do the lifting. Pour on the dressing and the same bowl sails past 200.
- Greek salad: 131 kcal — feta and olive oil turn leaves into a proper meal.
- Pasta salad with mayonnaise: 150 kcal.
- Potato salad with mayonnaise: 239 kcal homemade; the retail version averages 158.
- Waldorf salad: 196 kcal — the mayo-and-walnut classic.
Spot the pattern: the leaves never change, the fat riding on them does. A Waldorf is fifteen times denser than a green salad, and none of that comes from the apple or the celery. If you're checking one thing on a deli pot, make it the fat per 100 g — it tracks the calories almost perfectly.
How does salad compare?
(alt: "Salad vs lettuce, cucumber and tomato calories comparison")
| Food | Typical amount |
|---|---|
| Lettuce | 3 kcal per side salad |
| Cucumber | 11 kcal per piece |
| Tomato | 12 kcal per medium tomato |
| Green salad | 20 kcal per large bowl |
| Doner kebab | 377 kcal per 100 g |
The verdict: among the vegetables it's a dead heat — lettuce, cucumber, carrot and tomato are all so light that choosing between them is a matter of taste, not calories. That's the corner of the Eatwell Guide you genuinely cannot overdo. And the kebab row is there for perspective: the salad stuffed into a doner is calorically free next to the meat, so never skip it to "save room".
The salad cream trap
The word "salad" on a label is not a calorie claim. Potato salad runs 239 kcal per 100 g. And salad cream — the name is magnificent — hits 326 kcal per 100 g, twenty-five times the food it's named after.
One position worth taking: judge anything called salad by what binds it, not what grows in it. Leaves, tomatoes, onions — light. Mayonnaise, oil, cheese — that's the actual meal, as our mayonnaise page shows in painful detail.
Most popular ready-made salad brands in the United Kingdom
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United Kingdom, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each label. Ready bowls include dressing — that is why they sit ten times above plain leaves.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Tesco Chicken & Bacon Caesar Salad | 140 kcal |
| Co-op Caesar Salad | 169 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Salad FAQ
How many calories in a green salad?
20 kcal for a large 150 g bowl, 10 for an 80 g side salad, and 13 per 100 g. Those figures are for undressed leaves and salad vegetables — whatever you pour or crumble on top is counted separately, and usually outweighs the salad itself.
How many calories in a Caesar salad?
77 kcal per 100 g before the dressing — the chicken, croutons and parmesan already make it six times a green salad. Add a standard creamy Caesar dressing and the same bowl passes 200 kcal. The dressing, not the salad, is the decision.
How many calories in a Greek salad?
131 kcal per 100 g. Feta and olive oil supply most of it — the tomato, cucumber and onion underneath contribute very little. It's ten times the density of a plain green salad, which is fine: it's designed to be a meal, not a garnish.
How many calories in potato salad?
239 kcal per 100 g for homemade potato salad with mayonnaise; retail pots average a lighter 158. Either way it plays in a different league from leaf salads — a modest 100 g scoop matches twelve large bowls of green salad.
How many calories does salad dressing add?
Often ten times the salad's own count. Mayonnaise runs 686 kcal per 100 g, so two tablespoons of a mayo-based dressing add roughly 200 kcal to a 20 kcal bowl. Oil-based dressings are similar territory. Measured by the spoon, not the glug, dressing stays a seasoning.
How many calories in pasta salad?
150 kcal per 100 g for pasta salad with mayonnaise. The pasta brings carbohydrate the leaves never had, and the mayo brings the fat. A deli-pot serving is a light lunch rather than a "free" salad — closer to a sandwich filling than to greens.
Is salad good for weight loss?
Yes — a 150 g bowl at 20 kcal fills a plate for almost nothing, which is exactly what a calorie deficit wants. The one rule: track the dressing and toppings as their own foods. A salad drowned in dressing can quietly outscore the meal it replaced.
Is salad cream high in calories?
326 kcal per 100 g — despite the name, it's one of the most calorie-dense things that touches a salad. A thin drizzle is fine; the point is knowing it belongs with mayonnaise and oil in your log, not with the vegetables it's poured over.
Similar foods
- Cucumber — 11 kcal per 5 cm piece
- Tomato — 12 kcal per medium tomato
- Lettuce — 3 kcal per side salad
- Mushrooms — 7 kcal per 100 g raw
- Cabbage — 14 kcal per boiled portion
- Pepper — 42 kcal per red pepper
Log the bowl, dressing and all
Point BodyPal at any salad — plain, Greek or drowned in Caesar dressing — and it logs the whole bowl, toppings included, from one photo.
